Dawn Of The Day - ONC 2022

Chapter 12. Trouble in paradise 2

"Dad...Dad! Are you ok?"

"Lou! Thank God....I'm fine... How are you? How's Vince?"

There was a little static. My dad sounded as if he was a thousand miles underwater. I didn't want to cry but hearing his voice did it for me.

"Dad, Vince is hurt! Where are you? What happened?"

I choked on my tears. I felt helpless and the helplessness made me angry. My heart was beating like crazy. My throat was hoarse. Everything in my body felt like it was on the verge of shutting down.

We had been roasted under the harsh sun for a whole day. The island's weather was fickle. It was freezing when we got here, then sweltering. I almost forgot that we were in the middle of winter if it was not for the coat Meg had intentionally left on.

Poor Vince was sweating like a steamed duck while still being unconscious, but I was not much better. Meg smiled down at us. The cruelty was the point. She wanted to torture us, to keep us barely alive so we could jump at the first light of hope. I swore, someday, I would rip that smile off her face...

"I'm so sorry, Lou! I promise everything will be ok. Everything will be fine, just sta..."

"Ok," Meg took the phone away. "Enough chit-chat! You heard your daughter, Jon. Your son is a little out of it, but he's breathing. Now, you know the deal. Give the generals what they want and we can all go home. Nice and easy. It's taken long enough, you know?" She sighed dramatically and pouted her cherry lips while listening to my dad. "Oh, come on, babe, don't be mad! I'm not the one to blame! Castillon had given up on you the minute your signal was off. There's no rescue party coming, so why stay loyal to that man, risking your and your kids' lives?"

Castillon was a name that even a three-year-old child in our country knew, but what did he have to do with us? For all I knew from the conversation at the hospital, my dad loathed that man. He thought Castillon was the root of our problems and should be checked, or better, cast aside and replaced by someone more reasonable. There was no way he could work for Castillon as Meg had said, but one thing I had learned about politics, or pretty much everything in life, was that nothing was ever what it seemed on the surface.

"Haha, you're threatening me, Jon? I love your enthusiasm! At the end of the day, it did make things fun while it lasted, but if I were you, I would use the little time and energy I have left wisely instead of pissing off the person who has a gun to my kids' heads."

Meg then turned off the phone and stood there, staring at us with her dead-fish eyes.

"So," she blinked. The charming smile was back. "How are we doing over here? Who's hungry?"

[13382]